April 17, 2008

Yup, Artomatic is back, is in DC, and now I'm scrambling to finish up new paintings for the show! Instead of freaking out and trying to make as many paintings as possible, I've decided that the amount doesn't matter at all. So I won't have tons of paintings for this show, but I'm happy with what I'm doing.Last weekend we had site selection at the new space and I was lucky enough to get a great space on the 11th floor, A4 (yeah, there will be 12 floors of art and performance spaces!) with an amazing view of the city. (my page in the Artist Catalogue on the Artomatic site is here)

So what's next? I've got to:-finish the paintings-frame the paintings-paint my wall at Artomatic-set up lights for my wall-hang the paintings and add all other details for the spaceWish me luck and I look forward to seeing you at the big show!!!

About Artomatic:Artomatic is a month-long multimedia arts event that draws together visual artists, musicians and performers and brings their work to the community without charge.

It was originally conceived as a way to break down the geographical and social segmentation of the Washington arts scene, to bring art directly to the public and to build cohesion among artists. The city's ongoing development in recent years has diffused the arts community by breaking up pockets of artist studios. In addition, local artists are sometimes overshadowed by national blockbuster shows and federal landmarks. Artomatic provides a forum for all of our area's artists to convene, perform and exhibit, strengthening the visibility, cohesion, and marketplace of Washington's arts community.

Artomatic began in 1999 in the historic Manhattan Laundry building. A dozen or so artists originally toured the empty building and within a month, three hundred and fifty artists had cleaned, lit, painted and colonized the 100,000 square feet. Over 20,000 visitors attended the first Artomaticover 6 weeks.

From there, it grew organically, as buildings were made available to Artomatic by community developers. Music and performance of all kinds were added. In 2000, 665 artists exhibited and 200 performed at the old Hechinger’s building; more than 1000 artists and performers took part in 2002 at the Southwest Waterfront and even more in 2004 at the old Capitol Children’s Museum in Northeast. The number of visitors has also more than doubled to over 40,000. Artomatic made a stop in Virginia for the first time in 2007, occupying a former Patent and Trademark space. It drew over 40,000 visitors.

Last month I finally finished the illustrations for the children's book I talked about a while back. I learned a lot during the whole process and had a lot of fun drawing so much, but I'm really happy to be done!